


Prompt: Nightmares

by EssayOfThoughts



Series: MCU Maximoff Oneshots [46]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Codependency, Gen, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She <i>knows</i> now, knows what it is to feel Pietro’s mind ripped from her, to feel the bullets tearing through his body, to feel the horrible burning pain of his lungs and his heart trying to survive the oncoming claws of death. She knows, now, and her nightmares will not let her forget it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prompt: Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted over on my blog, you can see the original prompt [Here](http://essayofthoughts.tumblr.com/post/140876878090/request).

**i.**  
Wanda is used to nightmares. Even before the shell ripped through their flat they would have nightmares. Of people burning the synagogue, of something happening to uncles or aunts, of the war in the streets spilling over into school or into home. After the shells destroyed their home, killed their parents, nightmares came only more frequently, and even those who managed the foster care did not find it odd to see the twins curled together.

Nightmares have been common to them all their lives.

 

* * *

 

 **ii.**  
These nightmares ( _are they nightmares?_ She wonders. So much more intense and painful and leaving her gasping in terror in the dark) are something new entirely. She has had nightmares of losing Pietro before, of course she has, just as he has had nightmares of losing her, their shared and recurring nightmare of when they were ten but without a twin to share it with, or, worse, with only their corpse. Those nightmares she learned to chase away not long after her scarlet came coiling to her, but these…

She _knows_ now, knows what it is to feel Pietro’s mind ripped from her, to feel the bullets tearing through his body, to feel the horrible burning pain of his lungs and his heart trying to survive the oncoming claws of death. She knows, now, and her nightmares will not let her forget it.

 

* * *

 

 **iii.**  
Pietro has always been the one to stay up late. Always the one to watch for threats, always the one to guard. It is how they have always been, as long as they can remember, Wanda guiding their path, Pietro guarding. It is how they are.

Wanda is much better at feigning sleep than her brother ever has been, and it is simple enough to set her scarlet to soothing and tug Pietro to sleep without her. She does not like these nightmares, these new things, and she knows that some days Pietro has had to pause as memories shock through his mind in striking silver. She has learned well how to chase them out with her scarlet, to help her brother recover from it.

She does not think his blue could do the same for her.

 

* * *

 

 **iv.**  
She likes sitting awake. She does not like being sleepless, not at all, but it is that or these new nightmares and she knows how long she can go without sleep. They have always been able to last on snatched handfuls of rest.

It’s quiet, sitting awake, and it gives her time to gently comb through the minds around her and learn who can be trusted, gives her time to read and learn and to prepare for the missions that the Captain and the Widow seem to be training them for. Pietro does not question the information she sends to his mind when he wakes, does not ask when she sat down to learn it, and she is glad of that.

She does not want to have to explain to Pietro that she is as sleepless as he has always been.

 

* * *

 

 **v.**  
Wanda isn’t sure how long she’s been awake when they’re called to a mission. She’s been keeping herself going with mugs of tea and the disgusting energy drinks Pietro favours, and sometimes she sends waves of her scarlet through her mind, washing out the cobwebs, keeping herself going. It’s easier with the link to Pietro’s mind; she can be sure she’s heard the right thing, seen the right thing, but it’s getting harder to hide how tired she is and she can _tell_ that from the way Pietro’s blue curls towards her scarlet in worry.

 _Wanda?_ He asks, his voice chased with shakes of silver.

Wanda sends a wave of scarlet towards him as well, warm and alert and alive, and lets scarlet trace around his wrist as he sets her down.

“I will be fine,” she promises, and she can see her image in his mind, with deep circles under her eyes. “Come back for me when it is done, I will be fine.”

Pietro looks worried, and she can feel it in his mind, the rising waters of it as he presses a kiss to her brow and is gone.

 

* * *

 

 **vi.**  
Pietro runs. Pietro can do this, easily, track the others via comms, know where Wanda is via their bond, and it is simple enough to sprint through the structure, find enemies to knock out and clear the path for everyone else.

That’s why they brought him along, after all.

It takes only moments to clear a path, open the doors. He glimpses the others as he goes, the Widow heading for the computers, Barton at her side, see Stark and his friend flying overhead, Steve and Sam and Vision making their own way through, the android phasing his way through _walls_.

He can feel Wanda, safe but close by, her mind weaving through those minds within, coordinating the Avengers, and disordering their enemies.

He knows she has been tired, has pushed what energy he can spare to her when he is able, but Wanda sends a wave of reassuring scarlet as he runs. _I am fine_ , she promises. _Stop worrying_.

And suddenly there is nothing there.

 

* * *

 

 **vii.**  
Pietro knows there has been times like this before. He remembers training when he was made to test how far and how fast he could go and he had left Wanda’s range, he remembers the early days of their powers when they had not kept the bond so constantly, remembers how the bridge had shaken when Barton had tased Wanda but this _this_ , Wanda’s mind going blank and vanished from his so soon after promising all was well…

He is fairly sure none of the team heard the words he said, he said them so quickly, but he is gone from the battle and is back to Wanda in mere moments.

 _Wanda_ , he thinks, and tries to press the thought towards the slack bridge between them. _Wanda, Wanda, are you alright, **Wanda?**_

Her mind is silent and his hands shake as they stroke through her hair where she is crumpled on the ground. He can see the deep bags beneath her eyes, only accentuated by the eyeliner she so prefers and it is a simple thing to pick her up, cradle her to his chest and run them both to the Quinjet.

“Wanda collapsed,” he says, when they have arrived and he can set Wanda on the gurney they keep there. “Do not know why.”

“Alright,” the Captain says. “We’ll handle things here – Vision, can you take over Pietro’s runs?”

The android replies an affirmative and the Captains voice returns. “You stay with your sister. We’ll wrap up as soon as we can.”

 

* * *

 

 **viii.**  
_They rely on each other too much_ , Steve thinks, and voices it down his private commline to Sam and Nat.

“They’re twins, man,” Sam says as Natasha gives a wry chuckle. “And it’s not like you didn’t almost die to try to get Bucky back. We all do mad things for those we care about. It’s the way of the world.”

Steve still doesn’t quite _like it_ , how Pietro dropped everything without even a warning to get to Wanda, but he admits that he cannot really judge him for it.

 

* * *

 

 **ix.**  
_I’ve got you_ , Pietro sends, when he feels the first stirring tendrils of Wanda’s scarlet. _I’ve got you, I’ve got you, you’re safe._ He can feel the tiredness of her mind down their bond, not hidden by Wanda’s usual red waves of warmth and alertness. _Rest_ , he sends, and starts singing their mother’s lullaby.

Wanda’s mind is soothed back to sleep and Pietro stays, one hand in hers, one on her brow and half-combing through her hair, beside her.

 _You’re safe_ , Pietro promises, and presses a kiss to his sister’s brow.

 

* * *

 

 **x.**  
“What is it?” the Captain asks when they arrive back at base. Wanda is resting in a bed in medical, still unconscious, but Pietro – while he refuses to leave her side – is not jittery the way he has been when she has been injured before.

“Exhaustion,” the medic says. “Most likely caused by sleep deprivation.”

Pietro’s hand runs over his sister’s brow, gentle and reassuring. Steve considers for a moment before asking. “And you didn’t notice any of this?”

Pietro shrugs, careful not to let his hand shift all the same. “Wanda said she was fine.”

“And you just trusted that?”

There is a look in Pietro Maximoff’s blue eyes, a bright and burning one, one that promises that he would do harm if he was not so set on staying calm. He glances back to his sister. “If something is the matter Wanda will say. She will say when she decides. It is best to let her say when she decides.”

It’s Sam who speaks next. “So how long has she been going without sleep then?”

Pietro shrugs again. “Do not know. A week maybe? She has not had nightmares in that long.”

Sam and Steve glance back to the others, back to each other, and the team looks at Wanda, pale with dark bags beneath her eyes and Pietro, oddly calm beside her. “Let her rest,” Steve says, and his voice is soft. “We’ll talk to her about it when she wakes.”

Pietro presses a kiss to his sister’s hand and shakes his head. “I will talk to her. She will listen to me, not to you.” Steve opens his mouth, but Pietro’s superspeed lets him speak faster. “We speak faster in Sokovian. Only Vision can understand that. I will talk to her.”

 

* * *

 

 **xi.**  
When Wanda wakes it is dark, and Pietro is dozing. All the same he is awake in a moment when he feels Wanda’s hand shift in his, feels her scarlet trace its way down the bridge between their minds. It is a strain to stay calm, especially with Wanda like this, like she was in the castle, pale and prone in a hospital bed, looking exhausted and like a soft breeze could blow her away, but he knows he must. If he lets himself worry, lets himself start shaking around the room Wanda will wake and now, more than anything, Wanda needs to rest. He feels Wanda’s hand shift gently in his, feels her scarlet stretching to remake the connections of their waking minds, and finally relaxes fully.

 _Wanda_ , he sends, bright and warm, his mind opening to hers like a flower blooming. In the chair his posture relaxes, the set of his jaw loosens and slowly he opens his eyes. “Wanda,” he says aloud, so soft as to be a whisper.

Her brow wrinkles slightly as her eyes blink open. “Mm?” she hums. “What happened?”

Pietro huffs a small laugh of relief, not least at Wanda lapsing immediately into Sokovian. “You collapsed,” he says, in the same language. “When we were on the mission. Your mind went dark, I couldn’t feel you.”

Wanda’s eyes drop to the scarlet curling out from the fingers of her free hand.

“Wanda,” Pietro says, and gently reaches to touch his sister’s cheek when she glances to him. “Have you been sleeping much lately? Have you been sleeping at all?” he asks, his thumb tracing over her cheek.

Pietro could close his eyes and know, just from the particular way her hair whispers as she shakes her head that she has responded with a no. “Tell me,” he says, fingers stroking over her hand, hand dropping from her face to the sheets. “Tell me of them.”

Wanda shakes her head again, and Pietro squeezes her hand gently. “Show me then,” he offers. “Please, Wanda?”

Her eyes are already glowing as she looks at him and lifts her hand. “They are bad,” she says, and the scarlet fills his mind.

 

* * *

 

 **xii.**  
“ _Tell me_ ,” Pietro says, when the memories have finished making their way through his mind. He files them away, in amongst the leaves of the tree of his mind, and clasps both of Wanda’s hands in his. “When you have nightmares like that, when you wake terrified like that _tell me_.”

“You need to sleep,” Wanda says, and Pietro finds it terribly ironic that she sounds as defensive as he ever has in this argument.

“So do you,” he says, and lifts a hand, cups Wanda’s cheek. “Tell me, when you have nightmares or night terrors, _tell me_.”

Wanda’s eyes are dark as ever and yet bright with scarlet still and as he ever has since Wanda has gained this power he feels almost like a mouse before a cat. He knows that with her power she could deny all they have ever been as twins, wipe his memory of this incident, halt his worry. He knows, at the same time, that she will not, that being the mouse before the cat reminds her of their promise to stay together in the face of the world more than anything.

“I am your brother,” he says, the start of the promise first said at ten. “I will protect you, I will help you, I will _always_ be here for you.”

Wanda’s head bows to his, their brows resting together. “I am your sister,” she says. “I will keep us safe, I will help you, I will _always_ be here for you.”

Pietro huffs a breath, presses a kiss to Wanda’s cheek. “You and I,” he promises, “We have each other, we do not need anyone else.”

“Yes,” Wanda agrees, eyes closing as slowly and as trustingly as a cat’s.

“If you do not rest,” Pietro continues, “Others will try to interfere.”

“I know,” Wanda says, and her voice is calm at last, with none of the tenseness of before. She shifts to one side in the bed, making space. “I will rest.” She does not have to ask for Pietro to already be clambering onto the bed, letting her curl against his side, rest her head against his chest where she can hear his heartbeat.

“Sleep,” Pietro says, and presses a final kiss to her brow. “No one is going to hurt us.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is a touch unlikely (I imagine Pietro would have asked Wanda before she collapsed of exhaustion, and that the team wouldn't let her out if she was that visibly exhausted) but as ever I do my best to do the prompts I am given. I hope you all enjoyed this and that you will leave comments and concrit.


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